(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving apparatus for a blast furnace charging distribution chute, and more specifically, to a driving apparatus capable of adjusting tilt and rotation of the blast furnace charging distribution chute to uniformly charge iron core and coal into the blast furnace.
(b) Description of Related Art
As one of the oldest industries growing with the development of mankind, steel industry is a key industry that supplies basic materials for overall industries such as automobiles, ships, consumer electronics and constructions. Iron mills which play an integral role in the steel industries use iron core and coal as a raw material to fabricate molten iron, which is molten pig iron. Next, steel is fabricated by using the molten iron and finally delivered to consumers.
In general, the molten iron is fabricated in blast furnaces such as shaft furnaces and melting gas furnaces. A process for fabricating the molten iron is as follows. Firstly, the iron ore and coal are charged into the blast furnace and a high-temperature hot blast or oxygen is injected through tuyeres. Next, the charged coal is heated. By using the heated coal as a heat source, the iron ore is molten and reduced to obtain the molten iron. When the molten iron is fabricated as described above, distribution of the charged materials in the blast furnace has a significant influence on quality of the molten iron. Therefore, it is important to uniformly charge iron core and coal into the blast furnace. Accordingly, the driving apparatus for the blast furnace charging distribution chute has been constantly developed in order to uniformly charge the iron core and coal into the blast furnace. Now, a conventional driving apparatus for a blast furnace charging distribution chute will be described with reference to FIG. 10.
FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a conventional driving apparatus 500 for a blast furnace charging distribution chute 530. The driving apparatus 500 drives the blast furnace charging distribution chute 530 which has a function of charging the iron ore and coal into the blast furnace.
As shown in FIG. 10, the conventional driving apparatus 500 for the blast furnace charging distribution chute 530 is mounted on an upper portion of the blast furnace 540 to supply the iron ore and coal provided from iron ore and coal hoppers 550 and 560, respectively, to the blast furnace 540. A motor 502 is used for tilt and rotation driving of the blast furnace charging distribution chute 530. The blast furnace charging distribution chute 530 is tilted and rotated by using the motor 502 in the following manner.
Firstly, ring gears 506 vertically stacked along a rotation reducer 504 and reduction gears 520 are circularly rotated by driving the motor 502. When the ring gears 506 is circularly rotated, a tilt reducer 510 arranged at one sides of the ring gears 506 allows the blast furnace charging distribution chute 530 to be tilted in the radial direction of the blast furnace 540. Therefore, the iron ore and the coal charged into the blast furnace 540 can be uniformly distributed by the blast furnace charging distribution chute 530.
However, since the conventional driving apparatus 500 for the blast furnace charging distribution chute 530 comprises a large number of ring gears 506 and reduction gears 520, there is a problem in that frequent breakdowns due to the complicated arrangement occur. Thus, on-demand repair or replacement for the associated parts should be made.
In addition to the frequent breakdowns of the rotation reducer 504 and the tilt reducer 510, parts of the rotating body may not maintain air-tightness due to high-temperature blast coming from the blast furnace 540. Therefore, there is a problem in that cooling efficiency may be degraded and cooling water may be flowed into the blast furnace 540. Moreover, bearings for supporting these rotating reducers may be degraded, so that it is difficult to use the bearings for a long time.